Making Validity Work in Practice
In educational assessment, we spend a lot of time talking about validity, but considerably less time figuring out how to make validation work in practice.
Read MoreCategory: Large Scale
Latest Posts
How Reading Lists Can Improve Assessments
Required-reading lists can be controversial, but they can help level the playing field for large-scale reading tests by reducing the transfer demand on students.
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How Diploma Seals Can Help Assess Civic Learning
Civic seals can do more than recognize student learning. They can be part of a system that supports and gauges their civic readiness.
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Learning About Reading Assessment
A retreat with experts taught me that our large-scale assessments don’t reflect the way children learn to read.
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When an Assessment Changes, Communication Planning Matters
When an assessment changes, it’s important to build understanding early. Constituencies need to know what changed, why, and what it means for them.
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Measuring Durable Competencies: Right-Sizing Expectations
Pressure to measure durable competencies is surging. But it’s challenging: there are limitations to what the data actually tell us.
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What We’re Up To: Center Presentations at NCME & AERA
Check out our lineup of fascinating presentations at two of the assessment field’s big conferences, NCME and AERA.
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Measuring Durable Skills: Why States Need More Than a Test
A large-scale test isn’t enough to measure durable skills. A broader view of assessment opens up a nuanced, more promising landscape.
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Assessing Civic Learning
The editors of a new book discuss how assessment can support civics learning and students’ engagement in civics.
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Leveraging All State Education Data at a Crucial Time
More than ever, states need to be able to leverage their data to maximize insight into student performance. Our framework paper can help.
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Safeguarding State Assessment
States should consider key safeguards to maintain strong assessment systems, in case the U.S. Department of Education can no longer enforce ESSA.
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To Adapt or Not to Adapt? That Is the Question
Deciding whether to use adaptive or fixed-form assessments depends not on what technology can do, but on what you want the system to achieve.
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Don’t Start With Assessment: Navigating State Involvement in 21st Century Competencies
Before states jump into assessing 21st century competencies, they need to step back to consider some key tradeoffs and questions.
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Assessment Must Follow Curriculum and Instruction
We talk a lot about—and aim for—balanced assessment systems. But we’re still not paying enough attention to the instructional core.
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Changing State Assessments Won’t Improve Student Learning
If we want students to learn more, we must engage them with good teaching and meaningful content.
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Rethinking Assessment on a Shrinking, Shifting Landscape
We need systems that acknowledge the demographic shifts and data blind spots that make it harder to tell the story of student learning.
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Statewide Assessments Are Critical for Informed Public School Choice
As public school choice expands, state tests play an increasingly important role: providing a common benchmark to help families evaluate their options.
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Using Reference Data to Inform Standard-Setting
States must consider setting standards when they launch a new test, revise their content standards, or make other changes that could influence assessment comparability.
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